


The Decline of Carvahall and Therinsford

by WingletBlackbird



Series: Inheritance Cycle Meta [1]
Category: The Inheritance Cycle - Christopher Paolini
Genre: Carvahall, Gen, Meta, Meta Essay, Palancar Valley, Utgard, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:26:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28759542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WingletBlackbird/pseuds/WingletBlackbird
Summary: Eragon and the villagers are descendants of people who lived right near a Rider outpost, located on Utgard mountain, and the location where Vrael was defeated. How does this reality affect their opinion on riders and the king, and life in the village in general?
Series: Inheritance Cycle Meta [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2108511
Kudos: 8





	The Decline of Carvahall and Therinsford

We know that Utgard mountain near Carvahall was established by the Riders to look over Palancar’s descendants. However, as centuries passed it was likely just looked on as one of the Rider’s outposts. I imagine it was considered desirable to live nearby. There would have been a greater sense of security. Carvahall and Therinsford probably had a larger population because of it. People would have come all over to see the place where the dragon’s roosted and their Rider’s lived. 

In fact, if we look at Carvahall and Therinsford, they have a blacksmith in each village. They also have a butcher. That is more than you might expect for a population of that size, even with the influx of trappers seasonally. I can’t help but think this might be explained by there having been a much larger population in the area when the Rider’s were in existence. People would have flocked to the area for the novelty alone. Now that they are gone, people have left. Perhaps that is why Aunt Marian seems to have no other family. In a time period where large families were normal and seen as beneficial, that is unusual. Perhaps, they left when the situation was not economically viable. The fact that Garrow moved his family after his wife died to a house that had been abandoned for fifty years, a really nice one too given the standards of the time, also suggests people leaving.

This situation could also explain Garrow’s education. Garrow can read which is an unusual skill for a farmer. His father and grandfather may have been wealthier under the rule of the Riders and whatever king came before Galbatorix. Now, a lot of that wealth has been lost. He doesn't even bother to teach his boys how to read.

I imagine this situation also contributes to the general sense of antipathy to the King in the area. Utgard was where Vrael was defeated. It is possible that there are people in Carvahall who are descendants of people who were there when that happened. They would have heard the dragons roar as they clashed. The villagers were likely not a huge fan of Galbatorix. They would have seen the Riders who had watched over them fall, and in return watched Urgals increase and attack them. Sickness, disease, and famine would have increased as well. (Imagine how much their crops would have flourished if the Rider’s did their version of Daghelgr once or twice a year.)

Moreover, Brom explains that Utgard is so steep you can only get there on dragonback. When Vrael fell, the elves had already gone into hiding. It was just Vrael and his dragon. No human could have gone up there to retrieve the body. (How in the world did Brom know how Vrael was defeated? Was Oromis watching through a scrying mirror?) I doubt the elves risked their kingdom and lives to go retrieve the body of Umaroth and Vrael. Those two just decayed and got eaten up there. As a consequence, there are probably old folk tales about how the sprit of Vrael and his dragon haunt Palancar Valley looking to settle old wrongs. His body was never left to rest properly so neither does his spirit....

As a point of symmetry, it does seem poetic that Eragon came from Carvahall which is near where the Riders of old were finally defeated. Moreover, Galbatorix’s dragon was said to have been killed way up north in the mountains. It took him months of wandering before a farmer found him and contacted the nearest outpost...which was probably Utgard. 

The presence of Utgard and the old stories would explain, beyond the presence of Brom, why Eragon likes the idea of the old Riders so much, and hates the Forsworn. To him the Forsworn toppled the Rider’s who once looked after them in Utgard. To most everyone else in Alagaesia, the Riders are probably spoken of negatively. Most people only remember the Forsworn, and even then the Forsworn and Galbatorix probably spread propaganda about how awful the old Order before them was and punished those who said otherwise.


End file.
